Direct drive wind turbine

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods to generate electrical power through a direct drive wind turbine. In one aspect, the system uses a diffuser cuff surrounding a counter rotating turbine operating inside a streamlined center body, the counter rotating turbine using a generator with an iron sandwich core. The main wind turbine blades are attached to a barrel stave that increases generator efficiency and distributes loading through the tower support structure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/386,934 filed Jul. 28, 2021 and titled “Direct Drive Wind Turbine,”the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in entirety.

FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to systems and methods to generateelectrical power through a wind turbine, and specifically to a directdrive wind turbine system and method of use.

BACKGROUND

Electrical power generation through wind energy has been pursued forcenturies with varied success. The challenges associated withefficiently and effectively converting wind energy to useful power arenumerous and, in some cases, unique. The challenges include windvariability, wind turbine durability, wind turbulence, high cut-inspeeds, low RPMs, lack of storage capacity, and large losses from thecylindrical shaped blade root sections, nacelle and tower.

Wind varies continuously in direction and speed if there is any velocityat all. Power generation from wind is a function of wind speed cubed.Therefore, small changes in wind speed greatly increase the effects onthe power output while utilities demand constant voltage.

Wind turbines need to be extremely robust or durable in order totolerate sudden gusts near hurricane speeds. These unexpected gusts mayrequire immediate shutdown, before the blade tip completes a fullrotation, to avoid disintegration of the turbine blades after a towerstrike. Winds not only fluctuate in speeds but from many directions.Disturbances can create large vortices. These turbulent eddies, from alldirections, create high stresses in the blade tips and then throughoutthe rotating assembly, especially in the transmission gears.

Most conventional generators have iron cores, inside the windings, madeof special laminated steel to greatly enhance the magnetic flux throughthe coils for greater output voltage. However, the magnets seek to alignwith the iron cores inside the coils. This causes uneven torque, knownas ‘cogging’, and makes it hard even to start moving. Most of thepresent wind turbines have gears to speed up the rpms for a better matchwith the generator. Besides cogging problems, wind speeds need to behigh enough to overcome gear resistance and inertia of the rotatingassembly.

Rotation of the turbine blades is typically in the 10 to 60 rpm range;the largest wind turbines are the most efficient but turn the slowest.These high torque machines need to greatly step up the speeds to matchefficient operating speeds of the generator.

Wind power must be used as produced instantaneously. Electricityprovided by wind power cannot be released over time to meet peak demandperiods, unlike water released through dams or power plants with coal,natural gas or nuclear power.

The nacelle, comprising the rotor shaft, bearings, transmission gearing,brakes and generator, accounts for only 1% of the rotor disc area butcreates about 11% of the total disc losses. The turbulent wake behindthe nacelle and tower causes the largest speed depression area aft ofthe rotor disc. The thick blade root sections, in close proximity witheach other, blocks a lot of the incoming wind (high solidity) while theblades are moving.

A diffuser augmented wind turbine continues to be promoted to vastlyincrease power generated. However, they always place this shroud aroundthe blade tips since the greatest torque comes from the outer quarter ofthe blade's span. The larger exit area does significantly reduce thestatic pressure at the diffuser exit to draw more air inside. Promotersof the Tip Diffusers mistakenly base the diffuser's power coefficient onthe blade tips area instead of on the much larger diffuser exit's area.The theory usually omits what happens around any kind of nacelle centerbody. The turbine blade starts to stall out approaching 10 meters/sec.Wind careens off the spinner into the nacelle corners and out around thelarge round blade root. The suction side draws the central flowsoutboard of those cylindrical root sections and towards the blade tipsas the flow separates off that other side. Large powerful root trailingvortices spin off the inner suction sides in the opposite direction fromblade rotation. A huge separation bubble occurs, with a tip diffuser,downstream of the blade's root since most of the flow is drawn outboardalong towards the diffuser exit. Wake vortices also disrupt centralflows directly behind a bluff nacelle body. Root trailing vortices alongwith wake vortices meet up with the large diffuser separation bubble tocreate a central roadblock and seriously impact streamflow through themain turbine blades. Placing a monster diffuser wrapped around the bladetips also requires an enormous structure with unreasonable weights andcosts.

The disclosure addresses if not solves the challenges or shortcomings ofconventional wind turbine systems. A direct drive wind turbine systemthat uses a diffuser cuff surrounding a counter rotating turbineoperating inside a streamlined center body provides a more efficient andeffective wind turbine system. More specifically, a diffuser augmenteris positioned near a streamlined center body to form a highspeed channelwhich powers a counter rotating turbine. The counter rotating turbinehas a stator section out front to set up two rotors moving in oppositedirections. The first rotor assists the wind turbine blades in onedirection and the following rotor moves in the opposite direction. Sincethe two rotors are rotating in opposing directions, the relative speedbetween the two has nearly doubled. A radial flux generator ispositioned inside the chord of the diffuser ring or cuff. The inner andouter magnets are attached to corresponding “barrel staves” on the RotorA assembly section, with the main turbine blades, while the armaturecoils are on Rotor B's assembly. Air flow from the nose inlet iscompressed from Rotor B's impeller to force cooling air around thegenerator.

SUMMARY

A direct drive wind turbine system is disclosed that uses a diffusercuff surrounding a counter rotating turbine operating inside astreamlined center body to provide a more efficient and effective windturbine system.

In one embodiment, a method of generating electrical power from a directdrive wind turbine is disclosed, the method comprising: providing adirect drive wind turbine, the direct drive wind turbine comprising: awind turbine body comprising: a center body; a nose inlet; a windturbine shaft defining a longitudinal axis of the wind turbine body; astator assembly comprising a set of stator blades; a diffuser augmentercuff assembly comprising: a first rotor blade assembly rotating aboutthe longitudinal axis in a first axial direction and comprising an outerbarrel stave coupled to a set of outer magnets, an inner barrel stavecoupled to a set of inner magnets, and a set of first rotor blades; asecond rotor blade assembly rotating about the longitudinal axis in asecond axial direction opposite the first axial direction and comprisingarmature coils positioned between the set of outer magnets and the setof inner magnets, and a set of second rotor blades; a set of shortturbine blades; a set of main turbine blades connected to the firstrotor blade assembly; and a support tower affixed to the Earth andattached to the wind turbine body; receiving airflows comprising: afirst airflow into the nose inlet; a second airflow into the diffuseraugmenter cuff assembly; a third airflow; and a fourth airflow: i)operating on the set of short turbine blades to create a short turbineblade torque about the wind turbine shaft and to rotate the first rotorblade assembly about the longitudinal axis, and ii) operating on the setof main turbine blades to create a main turbine blade torque about thewind turbine shaft and to rotate the first rotor blade assembly aboutthe longitudinal axis; routing the second airflow within the diffuseraugmented cuff assembly to form a channeled second airflow; and routingthe channeled second airflow to the first rotor blade assembly to urgerotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the first axial directionand to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assembly about the secondaxial direction; wherein: the rotation of the set of outer magnets andthe set of inner magnets opposite to the rotation of the armature coilsgenerates electricity.

In one aspect, the wind turbine body further comprises an impellerassembly providing cooling to the set of outer magnets, the set of innermagnets, and the armature coils. In another aspect, the method furthercomprises the step of routing at least some of the first airflow intothe impeller assembly. In another aspect, at least some of first airflowflows through a channel within the set of second rotor blades. Inanother aspect, a majority of structural loads from the main turbineblades are transferred to the support tower. In another aspect, the setof outer magnets, the set of inner magnets, and the armature coils forma radial flux generator. In another aspect, the third airflow isreceived by the set of outer magnets, the set of inner magnets, and thearmature coils. In another aspect, the diffuser augmented cuff assemblyattaches to the set of main turbine blades at a distance between 20%-30%of the length of a particular main turbine blade operating radius. Inanother aspect, each short turbine blade is connected to a respectivemain turbine blade by way of a Y winglet. In another aspect, each Ywinglet is connected to a circular fence.

In another embodiment, a direct drive wind turbine system is disclosed,the system comprising: a wind turbine body comprising: a center body; anose inlet; a wind turbine shaft defining a longitudinal axis of thewind turbine body; a stator assembly comprising a set of stator blades;a diffuser augmenter cuff assembly comprising: a first rotor bladeassembly configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis in a firstaxial direction and comprising an outer barrel stave coupled to a set ofouter magnets, an inner barrel stave coupled to a set of inner magnets,and a set of first rotor blades; a second rotor blade assemblyconfigured to rotate about the longitudinal axis in a second axialdirection opposite the first axial direction and comprising armaturecoils positioned between the set of outer magnets and the set of innermagnets, and a set of second rotor blades; a set of short turbineblades; a set of main turbine blades attached to the first rotor bladeassembly; and a support tower affixed to the Earth and attached to thewind turbine body; wherein: a first airflow is received by the noseinlet, at least some of the first airflow routed into the impellerassembly; a second airflow is received by the diffuser augmenter cuffassembly and channeled to form a channeled second airflow, the channeledsecond airflow routed to engage the first rotor blade assembly, to urgerotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the first axial direction,and to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assembly about the secondaxial direction; a third airflow is received by the set of outermagnets, the set of inner magnets, and the armature coils; a fourthairflow is received by: i) the set of short turbine blades to create ashort turbine blade torque about the wind turbine shaft and to rotatethe first blade assembly about the longitudinal axis, and ii) the set ofmain turbine blades to create a main turbine blade torque about the windturbine shaft and to rotate the first blade assembly about thelongitudinal axis; and rotation of the set of outer magnets and the setof inner magnets opposite to the rotation of the armature coilsgenerates electricity.

In one aspect, the wind turbine body further comprises an impellerassembly receiving at least some of the first airflow to provide coolingto at least one of the set of outer magnets, the set of inner magnets,and the armature coils. In another aspect, the impeller assembly outputsa received airflow in a radially outward direction. In another aspect,the support tower is attached to the stator assembly and to the secondrotor assembly. In another aspect, the support tower may be configuredin an upright position and a folder position. In another aspect, each ofthe stator blades comprise a stator blade trailing flap. In anotheraspect, each of the first rotor blades comprise a first rotor bladetrailing flap. In another aspect, each of the set of main turbine bladesare attached to the outer barrel stave. In another aspect, the windturbine body further comprising a circular slat positioned adjacent theset of stator blades.

In yet another embodiment, a direct drive wind turbine generatingelectricity is disclosed, the direct drive wind turbine comprising: awind turbine body comprising: a center body; a nose inlet; a windturbine shaft defining a longitudinal axis of the wind turbine body; astator assembly comprising a set of stator blades, each of the statorblades comprising a stator blade trailing flap; a diffuser augmentercuff assembly comprising: a first rotor blade assembly configured torotate about the longitudinal axis in a first axial direction andcomprising an outer barrel stave coupled to a set of outer magnets, aninner barrel stave coupled to a set of inner magnets, and a set of firstrotor blades, each of the first rotor blades comprising a first rotorblade trailing flap; a second rotor blade assembly configured to rotateabout the longitudinal axis in a second axial direction opposite thefirst axial direction and comprising armature coils positioned betweenthe set of outer magnets and the set of inner magnets, and a set ofsecond rotor blades; an impeller assembly providing cooling to the setof outer magnets, the set of inner magnets, and the armature coils; aset of short turbine blades; a set of main turbine blades attached tothe outer barrel stave; and a support tower affixed to the Earth andattached to the stator assembly and to the second rotor assembly;wherein: a first airflow is received by the nose inlet, at least some ofthe first airflow routed into the impeller assembly; a second airflow isreceived by the diffuser augmenter cuff assembly and channeled to form achanneled second airflow, the channeled second airflow routed to engagethe first rotor blade assembly, to urge rotation of the first rotorblade assembly in the first axial direction, and to urge rotation of thesecond rotor blade assembly about the second axial direction; a thirdairflow is received by the set of outer magnets, the set of innermagnets, and the armature coils; a fourth airflow is received by: i) theset of short turbine blades to create a short turbine blade torque aboutthe wind turbine shaft and to rotate the first blade assembly about thelongitudinal axis, and ii) the set of main turbine blades to create amain turbine blade torque about the wind turbine shaft and to rotate thefirst blade assembly about the longitudinal axis; the diffuser augmentedcuff assembly attaches to the set of main turbine blades at a distancebetween 20%-30% of the length of a particular main turbine bladeoperating radius; each short turbine blade is connected to a respectivemain turbine blade by way of a Y winglet; and rotation of the set ofouter magnets and the set of inner magnets opposite to the rotation ofthe armature coils generates electricity.

The term “state” means a group of variables or characteristics thatdefines the condition of an entity, such as pressure and temperature maydefine the condition or state of a substance as a gas or a liquid.

The phrase “user interface” or “UI”, and the phrase “graphical userinterface” or “GUI”, means a computer-based display that allowsinteraction with a user with aid of images or graphics.

By way of providing additional background, context, and to furthersatisfy the written description requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112, thefollowing references are incorporated by reference in their entireties:U.S. Pat. No. 7,633,176 Bittersdorf, U.S. Pat. No. 8,222,762 to Borgen;U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,074 to Longtin; U.S. Pat. No. 8,040,011 to Mueller;U.S. Pat. No. 9,926,906 to Mansberger; U.S. Pat. No. 10,280,895 toKeeley and U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,640 to Anderson; U.S. Pat. Appl. Nos.2006/0163963 to Flores; and 2011/0001320 to Lagerweij; and EP 3,396,153to Ostertag.

The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-endedexpressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. Forexample, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at leastone of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B,or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably. Theterm “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers to anyprocess or operation done without material human input when the processor operation is performed. However, a process or operation can beautomatic, even though performance of the process or operation usesmaterial or immaterial human input, if the input is received beforeperformance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to bematerial if such input influences how the process or operation will beperformed. Human input that consents to the performance of the processor operation is not deemed to be “material”.

The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variationsthereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any typeof methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term “means” as used herein shall be given its broadest possibleinterpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112, Paragraph 6.Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term “means” shall cover allstructures, materials, or acts set forth herein, and all of theequivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materials or acts and theequivalents thereof shall include all those described in the summary,brief description of the drawings, detailed description, abstract, andclaims themselves.

Various embodiments or portions of methods of manufacture may also oralternatively be implemented partially in software and/or firmware,e.g., analysis of signs. This software and/or firmware may take the formof instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by oneor more processors to enable performance of the operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The preceding is a simplified summary of the disclosure to provide anunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is neitheran extensive nor exhaustive overview of the disclosure and its variousaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations. It is intended neither toidentify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate thescope of the disclosure but to present selected concepts of thedisclosure in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detaileddescription presented below. As will be appreciated, other aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations of the disclosure are possibleutilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features setforth above or described in detail below. Also, while the disclosure ispresented in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciatedthat individual aspects of the disclosure can be separately claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals designate like elements. The elements of the drawingsare not necessarily to scale relative to each other. Identical referencenumerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical featuresthat are common to the figures.

FIG. 1 is front left side isometric view of one embodiment of a directdrive wind turbine of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a partial left side view of the direct drive wind turbine ofFIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a cutaway left side view of the direct drive wind turbine ofFIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a front left side view of some components of the direct drivewind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the Stator Assembly, which includesthe first stage of the counter rotating turbine;

FIG. 5 is a front left side view of some components of the direct drivewind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the diffuser cuff, main wind turbineblades, and short turbine blades;

FIG. 6 is a cutaway left side view of FIG. 5 , detailing the first rotorblade (aka rotor A) assembly;

FIG. 7 is a front right side isometric view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the diffuser cuff, mainwind turbine blades, and short turbine blades;

FIG. 8 is a rear left side isometric view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the first rotor blade(aka rotor A) assembly;

FIG. 9 is a cutaway sideview of the direct drive wind turbine of FIG. 1, illustrating the shortened load path from the productive blade tipsback down to ground;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the impeller component of the directdrive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , illustrating airflows through Rotor B'sblade;

FIG. 11 is a cutaway left side view of some components of the directdrive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the second rotor blade (akarotor B) assembly;

FIG. 12 is a left side front view of some components of the direct drivewind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the second rotor blade (aka rotor B)assembly;

FIG. 13 is a right side rear view of some components of the direct drivewind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing the second rotor blade (aka rotor B)assembly;

FIG. 14 is a cutaway left side view of some components of the directdrive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing aft components;

FIG. 15 is a front view of some components of the direct drive windturbine of FIG. 1 to include airflows around the aft impeller plate toexit out four aft support struts, detailing aft components;

FIG. 16 is a front left side isometric view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing aft components andsupport tower components;

FIG. 17 is a front right side isometric view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing aft components andsupport tower components;

FIG. 18 is a rear right side isometric view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , detailing aft components andsupport tower components;

FIG. 19A is a cutaway partial left side view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 19B is the cutaway partial left side view of some components of thedirect drive wind turbine of FIG. 19A, detailing a set of airflowsrelative to components of the wind turbine body, short wind turbineblades, and main wind turbine blades;

FIG. 20 is one method of use of the embodiment of a direct drive windturbine of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 21 is a left side view of the direct drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 ,detailing support tower components;

FIG. 22 is a front left side view of the direct drive wind turbine ofFIG. 1 in a partially reclined state, detailing support towercomponents;

FIG. 23 is a left-side perspective view of the direct drive wind turbineof FIG. 1 , illustrating some components of the support tower;

FIG. 24 is a front left side view of the direct drive wind turbine ofFIG. 1 in a partially reclined state, detailing support towercomponents; and

FIG. 25 is a left side view of the direct drive wind turbine of FIG. 1in a fully reclined state, detailing support tower components.

To assist in the understanding of one embodiment of the presentinvention the following list of components and associated numberingfound in the drawings is provided.

# Component

-   10 Direct Drive Wind Turbine System (aka Inner Diffuser Cuff Wind    Turbine)-   11 Wind Turbine Shaft (aka Rotor Shaft)-   12 Center Body Nosecone-   13 Nose Inlet-   14 Slat Assembly-   15 Forward Stator Blade-   16 Stator Flap-   17 Stator Bottom Strut-   18 Diffuser Cuff Assembly-   19 Wind Turbine Body-   20 Stator Assembly-   30 First Rotor Blade Assembly (aka Rotor A Assembly)-   40 Second Rotor Blade Assembly (aka Rotor B Assembly)-   100 Main Turbine Blade-   101 Circular Fence-   102 Short Blade-   103 Y Winglets-   104 Diffuser Cuff Forward Section-   105 Generator Inlet-   106 Rotor A Forward Blade-   107 Rotor A Flap-   108 Rotor A Structural Disc-   109 Rotor A Core Insert-   110 Angled Inlet Spacer-   111 Outer Barrel Stave Plate-   112 Outer Magnet-   113 Inner Magnet-   114 Inner Barrel Stave Plate-   117 Rotor A Aft Core Insert-   118 Roller Bearing-   119 Thrust Bearing-   120 Rotor A Ball Bearing Groove-   121 Mini Blade Structural Stiffener-   122 Brake Disc-   123 Blade's U Channel Ring-   124 Threaded Bolt for Blade's Root-   125 Steel Strap Around Barrel Staves-   200 Armature coils (aka Coil Windings)-   201 Forward Coil Ring-   202 Rotor B Loose Ball Bearing Groove-   203 Steel Aft Ring-   204 Rotor B Hi Lift Blade-   205 Root Inlet for Impeller Flow Crossing Across Channel-   206 Root Steel Plate-   207 Impeller-   208 Impeller Bearing Groove-   209 Loose Ball Bearings (Alternating Diameters)-   210 Connector to Slip Rings-   211 Shroud Around Wiring-   212 Non-Magnetic Steel Bolt-   299 Support Tower Assembly-   300 Aft Thick Support Strut (4 Total)-   301 Aft Diffuser Cuff-   302 Center Body Tail Cone-   303 Aft Impeller Plate-   304 Impeller Plate Groove-   305 Aft Core Support-   306 Slip Rings-   307 Struts from Diffuser Cuff to Towers-   308 Upper Airfoil Strut Between Twin Towers-   309 Twin Towers-   310 Lower Airfoil Strut Between Twin Towers-   311 Mid Platform-   312 Roller Bearings (4) into Support Struts-   313 Tilt Axis-   314 Diffuser Boost Airfoils-   315 Y Yoke-   316 Y Yoke Attachment to Air Shock-   317 Bottom Platform-   318 Electronics, Controls under Roof-   319 Electrolyzer-   320 Hydrogen Tank/Lower Tower-   321 Oxygen Tank-   322 Tank Wrap-   323 Water Tank-   324 Forward Brace-   325 Aft Braces-   326 Cylinder Alignment Slot-   327 Air Shock Cylinder-   328 Foundation Cap-   329 Trailing Bogey-   330 Yaw Control Motors (3) on wheel axles-   331 Cradle with Moveable Crane or Gin Pole (Not Shown)-   A Core Airflow Thru Nose Inlet and Into Impeller-   B Channel Airflow Between Diffuser Cuff and Streamlined Center Body-   C Cooling Airflow into and Around Generator-   D A′sD Impeller Flow that Transitions Across Channel through Rotor    B's Hallow Blades-   E Some of D's Airflow Exits out B's Suction Side for Improved Lift-   W Incoming Wind

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to representative embodiments. Thefollowing descriptions are not intended to limit the embodiments to onepreferred embodiment. To the contrary, it is intended to coveralternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can be included withinthe spirit and scope of the described embodiments as defined, forexample, by the appended claims.

The disclosed devices, systems, and methods of use will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 1-25 .

Generally, a direct drive wind turbine system is disclosed. The windturbine employs a diffuser cuff surrounding a counter rotating turbineoperating inside a streamlined center body to provide to a moreefficient and effective wind turbine system than conventional windturbines. The counter rotating turbine is created by the oppositelyrotating magnets of the first rotor assembly and the coil windings ofthe second rotor assembly. The direct drive wind turbine system may bereferred to as “wind turbine,” “inner diffuser cuff wind turbine,” orsimply as the “system.” The method of use of the direct drive windturbine system may be referred to simply as the “method.”

Early wind turbines increased operating generator rpm's by placingheavy, costly and maintenance-prone transmission gears between theblades and the generator. Those gearboxes became impractical for windturbines out in the ocean, along the seacoast. So, those transmissionshave been generally abandoned for Direct Drive, regardless of recentimprovements, by moving the active generator's radius further out fromthe axle. The disclosed direct drive wind turbine not only has thegenerator further out along the radius than recent direct drivegenerators but almost doubles the effective rotor speed interaction bymoving the coils and magnets in the opposite direction. The best andmost reliable method of creating counter rotation is the same way a jetengine operates. Jet engines are extremely reliable. if the hot sectionsstay within safe operating temperatures. Eliminating gears and replacingthem with only aerodynamic forces means everything for reliability andoperating life in a wind turbine. A wind turbine can operate 24/7 andmillions of hours in all kinds of winds, while most engines only operatefor a few hours at a time and overall, for thousands of hours. A counterrotating turbine can deliver the same work as an entire row of jetengine rotors, moving in the same direction, but with only a singlestator stage and two counter rotating rotors.

The initial stator is attached to the stationary bullet nose, followedby an impulse rotor A and then a reactive Rotor stage B before directingthe flow back axially, for minimum wake losses. Rotor B rotates,typically, at about 83% of the rotor A's rpm, but in the oppositedirection from rotor A, because of upstream losses. Therefore, voltagesand electrical powers are not quite double the typical wind generator'svoltage and power, just from counter rotation.

Main wind turbine blades are supported out from Rotor A by supportingrods hidden within A's blades. Main turbine blades, along with Rotor A'schannel blades, drive the inner and outer magnets inside the diffuserring's thickest sections.

Rotor B drives the coils, moving in between the magnets, in thecounterclockwise direction from Rotor A, looking from the front. Rotor Balso drives a double-sided impeller, which draws air from the centerbody's nose. This compressed air exits out the hallowed-out Rotor Bblades and joins up with cooling air from the heated coils beforeswinging out thru the turbine blades and the secondary short turbineblades with winglets. Ordinarily, waste heat off the coils is justthrown overboard. However, the impeller pulls much more air into thecentral inlet to sling it out radially and diffuse it out into largervolumes for greater pressures and energy with wasted heat. Thisenergized air not only improves cooling considerably with more flows butalso serves for creating blown lift out the suction side of the mainturbine blades and the shorter turbine blades for additional torqueenhancement.

The stator blades and rotor A blades have a large aft trailing flap witha gradual transition thru the flap gap to energize the flap's outerboundary layer. An airplane's wing flap must tuck back into the mainwing for minimum cruise drag and thereby requires a short and contortedflap gap. However, a wind turbine operates continuously in low winds,which allows a larger flap to remain extended with an ideal flap gapshape. For both the initial stator and Rotor A's rotor, the forwardairfoil section smoothly directs the incoming flow into the flap gap fora final exit turn across the flap's upper surface to prevent separation.

With attention to FIG. 1 , a direct drive wind turbine 10 comprises awind turbine body 19 comprising a center body, a diffuser cuff assembly18, a set of main turbine blades 100, and a support tower assembly 299.

A conventional wind turbine using a typical diffuser augmenter positionsthe diffuser out around the blade tips. In contrast, the direct drivewind turbine system 10 of the disclosure places the diffuser cuff closearound a streamlined center body, to form a highspeed channel inbetween.

As briefly described above, the diffuser cuff assembly 18 is positionednear a center body nosecone 12 (of a center body) of the streamlinedwind turbine body 19 to form a highspeed channel which powers a counterrotating turbine. The counter rotating turbine has a stator section outfront to set up two rotors moving in opposite directions. The firstrotor (of a first rotor assembly aka rotor A assembly) assists or urgesthe wind turbine blades (both the set of main turbine blades 100 and theset of short turbine blades 102) in a first one axial direction and thefollowing rotor (of a second rotor assembly aka rotor B assembly) in asecond axial opposite direction, the second axial direction opposite tothe first axial direction. Because the two rotors are rotating inopposing directions, the relative speed between the two has nearlydoubled. A radial flux generator (comprising a set of outer magnets 112,a set of inner magnets 113, and armature coils 200 aka coil windings) ispositioned inside the chord of the diffuser ring aka diffuser cuff. Theset of inner magnets 113 and the set of outer magnets 112 are attached,to corresponding “barrel staves” on the Rotor A assembly section, withthe main turbine blades, while the armature coils are on Rotor B'sassembly. Air flow from the nose inlet is compressed from Rotor B'simpeller to force cooling air around the generator.

A conventional direct drive wind turbine may eliminate the transmissiongear box by moving the generator's active area from around the rotor outto a larger radius, comparable to the nacelle's outer perimeter. Incontrast, the direct drive wind turbine system 10 of the disclosuremoves the active radius even further outboard to completely remove theineffective round root blade sections. This configuration removes theroot trailing vortices and much of the wake losses.

A conventional direct drive wind turbine typically positions an armatureto rotate directly off the rotor. Clearances between the rotor andstator must be extremely tight for the generator to operate efficiently.Moving the active generator outboard for direct drives meant thatinactive structures needed to be tremendously strengthened to maintainthose tight clearances across those empty air gaps. Supporting thesemuch longer structural arms off the rotor from smashing into each otherwas alleviated by taking out the strong electromagnetic attractionslocally. (It is like holding in the same position with your thumb acrossfrom the fingers in comparison to both arms stretched out holding thosesame forces, while spinning). In contrast, the direct drive wind turbinesystem 10 of the disclosure maintains tight clearances locally betweeninner and outer “barrel staves” which are cantilevered off angledspacers. The outer barrel staves or iron beveled plates provide not onlya way to greatly increase magnetic field but a bypass route around theinner critical clearances for nearly all the main turbine blades' loads.Instead of those loads going across the generator, they are transferreddirectly aft across a bearing raceway full of loose ball bearings intoRotor B. Rotor B transfers the loads thru ball bearings into each of thefour large aft struts. The spread out loads around the aft diffuser cuffare then combined into just the bottom large aft struts for transmissiondown the twin support towers. Note that the four large struts transferblade loads directly around and into the twin towers (See FIG. 9 ),while adding significant volume out behind the diffuser cuff to helpreduce expansion and inner surface separation.

A conventional wind turbine employs a typical generator comprising arotor armature and a stator field or a stator armature and a rotorfield. In contrast, the direct drive wind turbine system 10 of thedisclosure uses a counter rotating turbine which has both the field andarmature moving in opposite directions. This means the relative speedbetween the two rotors can almost be doubled without any upstream flowlosses. If the relative speed becomes doubled, that means thegenerator's voltage and power may also be doubled.

The direct drive wind turbine 10 solves, among other things, thethree-dimensional unsteady flow losses issue throughout the centralswept area that obstructs slipstream flows and optimum power generationof electricity. This issue is common in conventional wind turbines. Theinner diffuser cuff assembly 18 draws more flow into the middle channelarea formed around the aerodynamically shaped center body. Channel flowsare moving nearly five times the incoming wind speeds, which approachestip speeds over the outer productive blade span. Such higher speedsjustify using the counter rotating turbine blades (the set of firstrotor blades of the first rotor blade assembly and the set of secondrotor blades of the second rotor blade assembly) inside the channel. (Inone embodiment, the set of first rotor blades and/or the set of secondrotor blades are manufactured using 3D printing techniques ortechnology). Rotor A blades drive the magnetic fields clockwise andassist or urge or provide main turbine blade torque. Rotor B bladesdrive the armature 200 counterclockwise for nearly double relativespeeds. Thus, most losses from the root trailing vortices, nacelle wakeand diffuser separation bubble are eliminated. The central flows areused instead to improve power while preventing overheating with forcedcooling air.

With particular attention to FIGS. 1-3 and 19-20 , a direct drive windturbine 10 comprises a wind turbine body 19 (aka center body), a set ofshort turbine blades 102, a set of main turbine blades 100, and asupport tower assembly 299. The wind turbine body 19 comprises a noseinlet 13, a wind turbine shaft 11, a stator assembly 20, an impeller207, and a diffuser augmenter cuff assembly 18. The wind turbine shaft11 defines a longitudinal axis of the wind turbine body 19.

The bullet shaped wind turbine body replaces the boxy and high-dragnacelle of conventional wind turbines. The center body is shaped forminimum drag; the special bullet shape also assures constant speedsthrough most of the mid sections. The design also eliminates large flowdisruptions and turbulence with a gradual aft decrease in volume behinda typical wind turbine's nacelle box. The streamlined wind turbine body19 also has a nose inlet 13 that provides airflow into the impeller 207,the impeller driven by the second rotor assembly.

The diffuser augmenter cuff assembly 18 comprises a first rotor bladeassembly 30 rotating about the longitudinal axis in a first axialdirection and a second rotor blade assembly 40 rotating about thelongitudinal axis in a second axial direction, the second axialdirection opposite the first axial direction. For example, in oneembodiment, when facing the front of the wind turbine body (whichreceives airflow, such as wind airflow), the first axial direction is aclockwise axial direction, and the second axial direction is acounterclockwise axial direction. In another embodiment, the first axialdirection is a counterclockwise axial direction, and the second axialdirection is a clockwise axial direction.

The diffuser cuff, positioned just outboard of the center body, drawsmore wind in between the bullet and diffuser ring. The diffuser ringalso smooths out wind gusts and further accelerates local flows aroundthe largest bullet diameters of center body designs; the cuff acts likea concentric wing curled around the bullet, with the suction side nextto the center body. Because blade lift is proportional to speed squared,total lift increases within the channel more than 25 times for typicalincoming winds. Furthermore, the diffuser cuff is considerably smallerthan all other diffuser augmenters, with much less weight. The cuff ismounted near the center instead of outside the blade tips. The augmenteddiffuser cuff is positioned around 23 percent of the tip radius insteadof 100%, and yet draws extra wind inside, while the diffuser cuff'sdownstream influence extends even as far out past the blade tips. Insome embodiments, the cuff is positioned between 20-30% of the tipradius.

Note that acceleration in the diffuser cuffs channel occurssignificantly upstream from where the wind's streamlines are “parallel”to a very short distance past the leading edge on the diffuser's nose.The streamlines gradually narrow down with increasing speeds until theminimum pressure point on the suction side (inside diffuser cuff for adiffuser or topside on a wing). This occurs, for a diffuser angle ofattack of about zero, within about 23% of the chord length of a highlift airfoil and at about 5% for a diffuser angle of attack closer tostall angles. The angle of attack is with respect to the relative wind.At the high angle for diffusers, this minimum pressure point movesfurther upstream. Now that the transition in the boundary layer has gonefrom laminar flow to turbulent flow and the pressures along the “wing”surface are increasing in the direction of flow, the flow may becomesusceptible to reversing and possible separation. The diffuser angle isthe angle from the leading edge to the trailing edge point. The slat ofthe wind turbine functions, among other things, to reduce the effectivediffuser angle with less risk of separation. The slat also adds moreinlet flow and more energy air around the nose of the basic diffuser. Assuch, the gradual volume increase of the center body influences thechannel airflow speeds to stay reasonably constant, instead of slowingdown, at least until Rotor B's blades have been passed. In oneembodiment, Rotor A's blades rotate around 30% and Rotor B's bladesrotate back around 50% of the diffuser cuffs chord length.

The first rotor blade assembly 30 comprises an outer barrel stavecoupled to a set of outer magnets 112, an inner barrel stave coupled toa set of inner magnets 113, and a set of first rotor blades. The secondrotor blade assembly 40 comprises armature coils 200 positioned betweenthe set of outer magnets 112 and the set of inner magnets 113, and a setof second rotor blades.

The impeller 207 is driven by the second rotor blade assembly 40 tocompress airflow received from the nose inlet; the compressed airflow ispassed by the armature coils 200, the set of outer magnets 112 and theset of inner magnets 113 (collectively, the “generator”) to providecooling. (See FIG. 10 , showing one rotor B lift blade with airflowsinto its hallow cavity). The impeller's pressurized air is used forforced air cooling, blowing air over blade root sections, and toenergize diffuser cuff exit pressures. This impeller airflow, that turnsaft, accelerates out the four large support struts near the cuff's exitplane to lower exit static pressures and draw in more channel flow toavoid inner diffuser surface separation when diffuser expansion may beexcessive.

Note that the impeller is powered by Rotor B's hi lift airfoil bladesbecause the blades align up with the exit vector coming off Rotor A. Theimpeller pulls more air into the core because it is drawn by theimpeller slinging that airflow radially outward. However, the channelairflow primarily is drawn in because of the diffuser cuff acting like acircular shaped airfoil wing, where the highest airspeeds occur on thetopside of a wing. The highest airspeeds for the cuff are inside of thecuff. The main turbine blades are helping to “accelerate” the channelflow only by slightly speeding up the rotation, since the main bladesare on the same rotor A. An impeller really accelerates the core inlet'sairflow so that when it slows down inside the larger volumes radially itcreates much higher pressures for forced cooling air. The higherpressures are energized by wasted heat from the coils for higher speedsand better cooling.

The set of short turbine blades 102 are attached or coupled to the firstrotor blade assembly 30 and thus rotate in concert with the rotation ofthe first rotor blade assembly 30. The set of main turbine blades 100are also attached or coupled to the first rotor blade assembly 30 andthus rotate in concert with the rotation of the first rotor bladeassembly 30. Each of the short turbine blades 102 are connected orcoupled to a respective main turbine blade 100 by way of a circularfence 101 and Y winglets 103.

Note that both sets of main turbine blades are attached directly tosteel barrel staves that increase the electromagnetic flux for themagnets. The vast majority of loads (of the turbine blades) run aftdirectly into a groove at the end of the outer staves, through looseball bearings, into rotor B's groove, then over into four ball bearingson each large strut, transfers loads around the aft diffuser cuff intojust two bottom struts, then into the mid platform to pick up forwardshaft loads, and down into twin aerodynamic towers to the yaw platform,then into the ground. (See FIG. 9 ). Thus, the blade loads skirt aroundthe generator and do not require as much structural weight across agenerator's tight clearances (as is typical in conventional windturbines).

The loads from the main turbine blades are split out into the shortturbine blades. That is, short blades, with Y winglets, are positionedbehind the long main blades to prevent root vortices from curling aroundto the main blade's suction side and to help support the main bladesacross a circular fence. The fence serves as an end plate to the Ywinglets and to stop any early spanwise flow out to the main blade'stip.

In one embodiment, the set of short turbine blades 102 and the set ofmain turbine blades 100 are each four in quantity. In one embodiment,the set of short turbine blades 102 and the set of main turbine blades100 are each the same in quantity, e.g., three, four, five, six, etc.

The support tower 299 is affixed to the Earth and attached to the windturbine body 19, as described in more detail below.

With particular attention to FIGS. 19 and 20 , one method of operation2000 of the embodiment of the direct drive wind turbine 10 of FIG. 1will be described. The method 2000, and FIGS. 19A-B, emphasizes the setof airflows within, near, and adjacent the direct drive wind turbine 10.More specifically, details of the set of airflows relative to componentsof the wind turbine body, short wind turbine blades, and main windturbine blades are described.

Note that FIGS. 19A-B are cutaway partial left side views of somecomponents of the direct drive wind turbine of FIG. 1 , as viewed at a45-degree angle of rotation (about the longitudinal axis) and cutthrough the aft support strut.

The flow diagram of FIG. 20 presents one method 2000 of using oroperating the direct drive wind turbine system, such as the direct drivewind turbine system 10 of FIG. 1 .

Generally, the method 2000 of FIG. 20 starts at step 2004 and ends atstep 2028. Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed hereincan be performed continuously and automatically. In some embodiments,one or more of the steps of the method of use 2000, to include steps ofthe method 2000, may comprise computer control, use of computerprocessors, and/or some level of automation. The steps are notionallyfollowed in increasing numerical sequence, although, in someembodiments, some steps may be omitted, some steps added, and the stepsmay follow other than increasing numerical order. When the methodreferences a user, the user may be a single user or a set of users thatcoordinate requirements that are provided to the system. A user mayinteract or perform or assist with one or more of the described steps byusing one or more user electronic device(s) comprising a display/GUI, toinclude a smartphone or other portable electronic device, and/or adesktop electronic device. The one or more user electronic device(s) maycomprise an app to enable user interaction with the system. For example,a user may set a rotation maximum speed for the wind turbine main/shortturbine blades, or a maximum temperature for one or more internalcomponents (e.g., the generator), and effect control of one or moreelements of the wind turbine 10 to not exceed the rotation maximum speedand/or the generator maximum temperature. (As such, the direct drivewind turbine system may include a controller and/or processor to affectsuch control law algorithms and/or techniques).

The method 2000 begins at step 2004 and proceeds to step 2008. At step2008, a direct drive wind turbine system 10 is provided. The directdrive wind turbine system 10 may be that of FIG. 1 and any combinationof components, elements, embodiments, and/or configurations of thisdisclosure. The direct drive wind turbine system 10 may be describedwith reference to any of FIGS. 1-19 and 21-25 . After completion of step2008, the method 2000 proceeds to step 2012.

At step 2012, the direct drive wind turbine system 10 receives a set ofairflows. The set of airflows may include one or more of: a firstairflow, a second airflow, a third airflow, and a fourth airflow. Thefirst airflow, shown as airflow A in FIG. 19B, is received along thelongitudinal axis of the direct drive wind turbine system 10. The firstairflow is received by the nose inlet 13 and travels along the pathdepicted in FIG. 19B. At least some of the first airflow is received bythe impeller 207 (at step 2016). The impeller slings the first airflowout radially into larger volumes for forced cooling (at step 2017). Theremainder of the first airflow travels through the wind turbine body andengages the main turbine blades.

The second airflow, shown as airflow B in FIG. 19B, is received in acavity or aperture or void or channel formed between an exterior of thecenter body nosecone 12 and the exterior of the diffuser cuff (at ornear or adjacent the diffuser cuff forward section 104). The secondairflow is received by the diffuser augmenter cuff assembly and routedinto the diffuser cuff channel to form a channeled second airflow, thechanneled second airflow routed to engage the first rotor blade assemblyto urge rotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the first axialdirection and to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assembly aboutthe second axial direction (at step 2020). Note that the first rotorblade assembly rotates about the longitudinal axis in a first axialdirection and comprises an outer barrel stave coupled to a set of outermagnets, an inner barrel stave coupled to a set of inner magnets, and aset of first rotor blades. Also, the second rotor blade assembly rotatesabout the longitudinal axis in a second axial direction opposite thefirst axial direction and comprises armature coils positioned betweenthe set of outer magnets and the set of inner magnets, and a set ofsecond rotor blades.

The third airflow, shown as airflow C in FIG. 19B, is received by thegenerator (as defined above, the generator comprises the set of outermagnets 112, the set of inner magnets 113, and the armature coils 200).The third airflow, among other things, serves to provide cooling to thegenerator. Stated another way, the third airflow is in thermalcommunication with one or more generator components.

The fourth airflow, shown in FIG. 19B as airflow W, is received by: i)the set of short turbine blades to create a short turbine blade torqueabout the wind turbine shaft and to rotate the first blade assemblyabout the longitudinal axis, and ii) the set of main turbine blades tocreate a main turbine blade torque about the wind turbine shaft and torotate the first blade assembly about the longitudinal axis (at step2020). After the completion of the above steps 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018,and 2020, the method 2000 proceeds to step 2024.

At step 2024, the rotation of the set of outer magnets 112 and the setof inner magnets 113, both as attached to the rotating first rotor bladeassembly, in the opposite axial direction to the armature coilspositioned between the set of outer magnets and the set of inner magnets(the armature coils attached to the second rotor blade assembly,generates electricity. At the completion of step 2024, the methodproceeds to step 2028 and ends.

Note that the diffuser augmenter provides a number of benefits andfunctions, such as: A diffuser augmenter can significantly reduce theinner exit static pressures since the circular airfoil expands to a muchlarger exit area than the stagnation point on the nose of the diffuser.However, the ratio of exit shroud or cuff exit area to nose inlet areacannot be overly aggressive or else the inner flows will separate. Thisdiffuser cuff works in harmony with the center body, unlike tip mounteddiffuser augmenters. Those tip mounted diffusers create enough suctionout near the large shroud exit to draw inner flows off the nose of theboxy nacelle. In contrast, a diffuser cuff is wrapped tightly around abullet shaped nose to accelerate the channel speeds in between for boththe first and second rotor blades up near five times the incoming windspeed. The dynamic pressures in the counter rotating turbine section aretherefore around 25 times higher than out front. The velocities from thelast stage come off directly aft in the axial direction for maximumthrough flow. The four large structural struts assure there issufficient volume near the cuff exit to avoid inner diffuser separation.The gradual volume reduction of the aft center body assures avoidance ofinner airflow separation off the center body.

Winds will just take the easiest path around a wind turbine if thelosses become too large thru the stream tube formed by the turbine's tipradius. Maximum power, based on the Betz limit, occurs when ⅓^(rd) ofthe wind speed drop happens out front and ⅓^(rd) wind speed reduction ismatched out back. A typical wind turbine has 10 to 12% losses from theround root sections of the turbine blades, boxy nacelle, and round towernext to the spinning blades.

Losses are minimized not only internally with the diffuser cuff butexternally too. The cylinder-shaped root sections on a typical windturbine transitions from the hub on the axle over to a reasonableairfoil section near the 25% tip radius. In the interim, hugealternating vortices shed off the back sides and are influenced to movearound to the blade's suction side. This happens especially near stallspeeds when wind speeds approach 10 to 11 meters/sec. Then thosevortices easily shed radially outward toward the blade tips. Thediffuser cuff eliminates all those round root sections by the bladesattaching directly to the diffuser's outer surface. More boundary layerstability happens around this new root location since the outer diffusersurface is enlarging and slowing the local wind down. The short turbineblades trail behind the long blades to help structurally stiffen thosethin main blades and to block any root wake from wrapping around tosweep any stalled flows out towards the blade tips. Before bladestalling, the root trailing vortices eventually meet up with the tiptrailing vortices way downstream to partially block the stream tubeflow. The diffuser cuff configuration minimizes any root trailingvortices that could expand into the tip trailing vortices or causewidespread shedding across the suction side of stalled blades.

Note that the above method 2000 has been simplified. Many components ofthe direct drive wind turbine system 10 have been omitted for clarity,for example. Additional components of the direct drive wind turbinesystem 10 are described in other portions of the disclosure.

Also, the routing and function of the airflows just described have beensimplified. For example, the four airflows typically are part of ageneralized wind blowing or moving toward the direct drive wind turbinesystem 10. Stated another way, the collection of airflows A, B, C, and Ware initially (meaning prior to engaging the direct drive wind turbinesystem 10) part of one airflow.

With focus on FIG. 19 , more detail as to the entering or receivedairflows A, B, C, and W will now be described. Airflow A is depicted asa solid-lined arrow. Airflow B is depicted as a dashed-lined arrow.Airflow C is depicted as a solid-line arrow with origination shown as anopen circle. Airflow W is depicted as a solid-lined arrow interrupted bya short dash.

As discussed above, the first airflow is received by the nose inlet 13and travels along the path depicted in FIG. 19B. At least some of thefirst airflow out of the impeller 207 is depicted in FIG. 19B as airflowD, that circles around to jump across the channel through the hallowedout Rotor B blade. A portion of the impeller flow, as received by thefirst airflow (airflow A), transitions through the hallow blades of theset of second rotor blades (of the second rotor blade assembly). Some ofD's airflow exits out the suction side of Rotor B's blade as airflow Ein FIG. 19B to energize the lift. The remainder of the first airflowfrom the impeller travels through the wind turbine body toward theoutside of the wind turbine body and engages with the upper airfoilstrut 308 and specifically with the side diffuser boost airfoils 314.The combination of the impeller's pressurized air with airfoil 314'ssuction side helps to greatly enhance the suction at the diffuser cuffexit and pull in even more airflow W.

The second airflow is received by the diffuser augmenter cuff assemblyand routed to form a channeled second airflow. The stator blades in thestator assembly take the incoming wind and turn the flow so it isprimarily moving in the circumferential direction. After engaging thefirst rotor blade assembly and the second rotor blade assembly (to urgerotations in opposite directions), the second airflow travels outthrough the rear or aft portion of the wind turbine body, combiningwith, at some portions, airflow E (of FIG. 19B). Generally, the finalvelocity out of rotor B is straight back for highest air throughflows.

The third airflow, shown as airflow C in FIG. 19B, after providingcooling for the generator, passes through the lower portion of the windturbine body (combining with airflows A and D as shown in FIG. 19B)and/or passes through the aft portion of the wind turbine body(combining with airflow B as shown in FIG. 19B).

The fourth airflow, shown in FIG. 19B as airflow W, which engages eachof the set of short turbine blades and the set of main turbine blades,and may also combine in synergy with airflow A to lower diffuser cuffexit static pressures.

With particular attention to FIGS. 2-4 , generally from airflow intake(left) side to airflow output (right) side of the direct drive windturbine system 10, the nose inlet 13 is depicted as centered about thecenter body nosecone 12, each centered about the slat assembly 14. Eachof these components are centered about the longitudinal axis of thedirect drive wind turbine system 10. A pair of stator bottom struts ofthe support tower assembly 299 are attached to the slat assembly 14. Theslat assembly 14 comprises a set of forward stator blades 15 and a setof stator flaps 16.

The slat assembly draws extra air into the channel, just ahead of thediffuser ring cuff. The air is accelerated over the stationary ring'sleading edge. The leading-edge slat provides an extra boost in energy,which helps prevent separation over the aft, inside diffuser cuffsections. This slat also provides an effective end plate for the statorblades, which is the initial stage for a counter rotating turbine.

The stationary slat assembly extends across the channel's inlet to helpdraw more airflow inside like an airplane's drooped slat aligns with theupwash to add more energy and lift across the top front of a wing. Thiscircular slat is aligned with the incoming wind direction created by thediffuser cuff but is cambered to bring even more flow in. The slat helpssupport the stationary blades and to end plate the tips to avoid tipvortices. The two small struts attached to the slat bottom keep the slatassembly from rotating with the first rotor section and to support theforward shaft loads.

At the aft or rear of the wind turbine body 19 is an aft diffuser cuff301 and a center body tail cone 302, both concentric about thelongitudinal axis. Struts 307 from diffuser cuff to tower, twin towers309, and aft thick support structs (4 in total) 300 are also depicted.FIG. 14 depicts additional aft area components. FIGS. 15-18 and 21-25described below provide more detail regarding the support tower andrelated components.

FIGS. 5-10 detail aspects and components of the forward section of thewind turbine body 19, to include the diffuser cuff assembly 18 and firstrotor blade assembly 30. The turbine shaft 11 operates within or coupledto several roller bearings 118 and several thrust bearings 119.

Generally, the set of first rotor blades help to drive more torque fromthe main turbine blades 100.

The initial row of rotor blades receives the exit flows from the statorassembly in a circumferential direction. The rotor blades on the firstrow are of the impulse type since they act like buckets to redirect thatincoming flow back out in nearly the opposite direction. Rotor A'sblades assists the torque generated from the main and short wind turbineblades for additional power. The main turbine rotor rotates at slightlyhigher rpms with help from the Rotor A's bucket blades and results ingreater power from those boosted speeds. The flow out of the first rotorenters the second counter rotating rotor which has high lift blades ofthe reactive type. That second rotor B aligns up with the inflowdirection at the faster upstream speeds to increase power into theimpeller for more cooling flows. Only the initial stator blades andRotor A's blades, in the counter rotating turbine, have extended chordflaps to energize the flap's suction side, thru a smooth flap gap, toprevent separation over those highly curved surfaces.

The first rotor assembly includes a forward blade 106, a flap 107, astructural disc 108, and core insert 109. The first rotor assemblypositions a set of outer magnets 112 just interior to (interior meanscloser to the longitudinal axis, or closer to the turbine shaft, vs.anterior to meaning relatively farther away from the longitudinal axisor farther away from the turbine shaft) the outer barrel stave 111, anda set of inner magnets 113 just anterior to the inner barrel stave 114.Coil windings 200 are positioned between the inner and outer magnets. Asdescribed in more detail below and briefly above, the coil windings 200rotate in an opposite direction to the set of inner and outer magnets tocreate an advanced generator with a centralized iron sandwich core.

This iron sandwich generator improves electromagnetic flux where neededbeyond an empty central core. Cogging action occurs when iron is inclose proximity with a magnet. Racetrack coils, filled inside with aniron core, delay early startup and then causes rotor speeds to hesitateor “cog” up every time the magnets are closely aligned up with a typicaliron core.

The centralized iron sandwich core generator of the disclosure has coilssandwiched around buried iron, only in the central region of the coils,so that the magnetic attraction forces are considerably reduced inbetween the inner and outer magnets. This uniquely shaped iron coredraws electromagnetic flux in amongst the center of the relevant coilsections. A smaller iron core is placed inside the middle of theracetrack coil at right angles to the circumferential movement, so the“air” gap is reduced from each magnet to this unique iron sandwich coreand out to its sister magnet. Separate coils, like bread in sandwiches,surround this specially shaped iron core. Electromagnetic fluxrecognizes the easiest path thru iron, instead of air, somewhat similarwith a hiker finding the least resistance across a stream by jumpingover flat rocks. The steppingstones represent the increasing ironlaminated segments towards the center of coil windings, perpendicular torotation, that are in between the special stacks of round wirestransformed into a slimmer rectangular shape. The flattened wire stacksand combined iron/wire stacks have a hole in one parallel section, withrotation, so that solder dropped in could transfer the electrons overinto an adjacent layer. The continuous coils can better maintain theirtight tolerances within the magnets since the iron sandwiched cores aresupported in place with long nonmagnetic iron bolts next to the embeddediron cores.

There is much more electromagnetic flux going directly within the coil'sdirect path, inside of the magnets, than flux without an intermediateiron path across. The unique shape of the straight iron core draws moreelectromagnetic flux in towards the core and concentrates the flux intothe separated coils that are sandwiched around the iron core. TheLorentz force is the combination of electric and magnetic forces on aparticle charge due to electric and magnetic fields. Thiselectromagnetic force for the iron sandwich generator increases by 19%over a field coil winding with no iron core. This becomes obvious whencomparing the electromagnetic flux lines of the iron sandwich bunchedtowards the center of the coil sections at right angles to rotation.This unique iron location is not only where it is most needed in alldirections but is also a finite distance away from the magnets tosignificantly reduce cogging.

With attention to FIG. 9 , blade root loads are bypassed around thevulnerable generator. More specifically, blade loads move in a shortestload path from blade tips to outer barrel staves, back through looseball bearings, directly into roller bearings in four large supportstruts and down to the ground.

FIGS. 11-13 detail aspects and components of the rear section of thewind turbine body 19, to include the impeller 207 and the second rotorblade assembly 40.

Generally, the second rotor blade assembly 40 comprises coil windings200, a forward coil ring 201, a loose ball bearing groove 202, looseball bearings (alternating diameters) 209, a steel aft ring 203, and animpeller 207.

The set of second blades (of the second rotor blade assembly 40) drivethe impeller 207 to provide forced air cooling to the generator. Typicalloss in rotor speed from the upstream rotor is on the order of 17%.Therefore, relative speeds between the magnets and field coil windingsare not double but around 183% of typical generator rotation speeds. Thevoltage and power would also increase by 183% along with the relativespeed improvement. However, the impeller losses would also slow downRotor B's rotational speeds. The impeller must be sized to keep thoselosses to a minimum while still providing enough forced cooling air toprevent burning up the generator windings from all that extra power.

Note that this configuration provides compressed air that is joined upwith waste heat and is slung out the blade's upper surface and out thewinglet's blade tips for supplemental thrust in the circumferentialdirection. The generator's current losses end up as waste heat and mustbe removed to protect the integrity of the coil's wiring and avoidshorts. Nose inlets are placed in the leading edge of the augmenteddiffuser cuff. This cooling air easily moves through the coils' windingssince open tubing separates the adjacent iron cores around theperiphery. Heat can directly flow from the coils and sandwich iron coresinto these cooling channels through the matrix.

The center body nacelle has an inlet at the nose. An impeller draws airfrom the front and slings this core flow out radially. The 3 phase ACcurrents from Rotor B's coils need to be transferred across to an aftstationary structure. Brushes generate significant heat losses fromsparking. Replacing brushes can cause about a 2% increase in maintenancecosts. But this disadvantage is far more than offset by almost doublethe power from counter rotation between the coils and magnets. Sliprings last much longer than brushes and do not arc.

Compressed impeller air with heated air, from the coils and residualbrake operation, travel out the turbine blade's top surfaces for blownlift. The remainder of this energized air is directed into the shortblades and Y shaped winglets for more lift and torque, faster rpms andmore power extracted.

FIGS. 15-18 and 21-25 provide more detail regarding the support towerand related components. The direct drive wind turbine 10 is configuredto rotate about tilt axis 313, as shown in FIGS. 22, 24 and 25 .Components of the support tower are identified in FIGS. 15-18 and 21-25with reference to the list of components and associated numberingdescribed above.

Generally, a conventional wind turbine must shut down around wind speedsof 25 meters/second since there may not be a secondary generatoravailable to kick in at those higher speeds and/or the means to furl theblades out of the slipstream are not fast enough before any sharp edgegust destroys the blades. This disclosed wind turbine has twinaerodynamically shaped towers which can pivot instantaneously backwardsrelative to thrust loads directly on the blades and tower. The dynamicloads on the entire structure are significantly reduced with a fallbacktower that can instantly transmit those loads down thru an air shockcylinder to a trailing bogey and ground. The sharp wind gusts are notonly smoothed out, but the entire wind tower is in a more favorablefallback position to absorb any higher wind gusts. Safety is notdependent on the braking, blade pitch angle, switching or any controlsystem. Automatic fallback position allows this wind turbine to operatecontinuously even in extreme conditions near a slightly higher cutoffspeed with greater assurance it will be durable enough to last for 30years. All other wind turbines must have extremely high factors ofsafety around 2.5 to 3.0 times over expected design loads. If anymaintenance or cleaning is required, then the fallback tower is easilyaccessed when parked on a cradle next to the ground from a truck with abucket lift. The cradle could have a small crane to lift off anyintermediate sections.

Furthermore, the beneficial tower interaction draws more wind andsteadier wind into the blades. A round tower, in close proximity behindthe blades, creates a shadow influence back onto the wind turbineblades. This shadow effect has proven to be much greater than initiallyexpected. The shadow influence produces rapid local blade angle changesand dynamic stall events with each blade passage, in front of the largecylindrical tower, with its alternating trailing vortices.

Also, the center body bullet and diffuser ring are supported by twinairfoil struts just downwind of the blades, instead of a typicalcylinder tower. The twin aerodynamic struts help the yaw motors to alignthe wind turbine into the prevailing wind.

Twin tower struts are in the form of airfoils that diverge outward, onthe aft side, to pull more air in below where the wind pressures arenormally impacted the most, because of obstructions on the ground. Theaerodynamic twin struts, behind the blades, allow the remaining lowersupport tower, below the blade tips, to be shorter since the lowest windpressures are now improved nearest to the ground. A mid platformincludes a high lift wing in between the twin struts for greater towerrigidity and strength. The high lift airfoil rapidly acceleratesincoming winds on its top suction side directly outside of the bladetips rotation. This improved performance of the blade tips counteractsthe disparity between the top arc segment and the bottom arc segmentclosest to ground obstructions and greater turbulence.

Furthermore, the backwards Furling Wind Turbine structure allowsinstantaneous thrust reduction and overload protection under high windgust conditions. This flexible tower permits a knee action between theupper airfoil tower struts attached to the diffuser ring and the bottomtower. Other wind turbines might alleviate high wind loads by furlingoff to the side, out of the wind direction, or with moveable blade tipsor stall type airfoil blades.

Thrust loads directly impact the entire wind turbine structure and candestroy the blades within one revolution. Backwards furling blades canrotate rearward out of the wind to instantaneously relieve high loadsdue to extreme wind spikes.

Costs are directly correlated with weight. The structural weightdirectly depends on the loads due to winds and gravity. The bladesremain vertically upright within the wind turbine's maximum cutoff windspeed. If exceeded, the upper wind turbine will be blown backwards outof the wind by the large thrust component on the blades and tower. Anair shock cylinder allows the entire upper wind turbine section to fallback relative to the thrust loads. The air pressure within the shockcylinder can be controlled by predicted winds or actual peripheral windmeasurements. The factor of safety, or load carrying capacity beyondexpected load, can therefore be reduced, since there is lessuncertainty, regardless of any mechanical or electrical failure.Maintenance becomes much easier, less costly and considerably safersince the wind turbine can be rotated back almost completely down nextto the ground. The entire upper wind turbine can be easily accessible bya power linesman's operator bucket.

Benefits of the disclosed direct drive wind turbine system includereduced structural loads because of many features, but most importantly,due to short circuiting turbine blade loads directly around thegenerator. The design loads have been reduced considerably by the lowertorque loads as a result of much shorter blade load paths. The loadpaths from the blade tips to the generator loads are much shorter thanclear into the shaft diameter and back along the shaft, like the typicalgenerator. This generator resides out within the diffuser ring, which isabout one quarter of the blade's tip radius. Most of the wind turbine'storque comes from the blade tips, and now that driving torque has beenshort-circuited more directly into the driven generator.

The structural load path from the outer quarter of the wind turbineblades (greatest speeds at the highest radius) down to the 25% radiusgets quickly complicated for the traditional wind turbine layout. Theouter aerodynamic shape transforms into an ineffective airfoil beforelosing all lift and generating tremendous drag thru the circular rootsection. All those loads are transferred thru tightly torqued bolts intothe spinner nose and back into the axle rod. Loads are then transferredback along the axle thru brakes, transmission and into the generator andthen out to the radius at which the magnets are swirling around thecoils.

The disclosed advanced wind turbine takes the loads from the windturbine blade down to the 23% radius and transfers the torque directlyinto the outer magnets iron ring and U channel ring. The outer magnetsare connected on the front side to the inner magnets iron ring withshort cylinders, perpendicular to the rotor axis. The short thickcylinders provide an easy path in between for high recovery cooling airinto the coils. The magnets are just inside of those iron rings andtogether forms an easy flux path around the short cylinders to appear,from the side, like a tuning fork, without the handle.

Bending moments and stresses on the main turbine blades are much lowerthan normal.

The bending moments are taken out at the augmented diffuser cuffposition (about 23% radius) instead of the centerline. If the windturbine blade is considered a simple uniformly loaded cantilevered beam,then the maximum bending moment would be only 62% of a typicalfull-length blade, for a similar turbine blade configuration.

Blade loads are not just taken out at the plane of the blade's circularroot section by dozens of bolts. Instead, some of the main blade's loadis taken out around the 40% blade radius to be split out with a circularfence over to be shared with the short blade's Y shaped winglets. Thetrailing short blade not only shares the main blade's load but alsohelps to stiffen those thin blade sections to avoid a tower strike. Thecircular fence, between the main turbine blade and short blade, alsoserves to end plate the short blade's winglets for less tip losses. Theshort blade trails close enough to the main blade to make it impossiblefor any inner trailing vortices off the main blade's root to curl aroundand meet up around to the top suction side and cause root stall radiallyout towards the tips.

The inner supporting rods do not have to transfer all those tremendouswind turbine loads into the axle. The generator has already been drivenby the resultant torque inside the augmented diffuser cuff. Supportingrods, like the small wires on a bicycle wheel, only need to jointlyshare any remaining rotary and gravity loads. Since structural loadshave been greatly diminished, then the weight has also been reduced.Lower costs, of course, would also correlate with the lower weights.

Braking loads are also transferred more directly back into slowing theblades down and stopping rotation for maintenance. The blade's torque istransferred from the blade's root in the diffuser ring directly over toan adjacent U channel ring. The aft portion of that U ring forms thedisc plate for the disc brakes. Each disc brake is supported by astationary yoke out the back of the diffuser augmenter cuff to transferthose loads directly into one of the twin airfoil tower struts.

Also, the disclosed system may provide green energy storage of hydrogenand oxygen from electrolysis of water during high wind operation.Storage of wind energy can be dealt with batteries or pumping water tohigher levels. This wind turbine configuration is a green natural forelectrolysis and storing of energy into hydrogen. Far greater electricalpower can be created from this counter rotating turbine configuration,for a given blade diameter, than any typical wind turbine. Thisgenerator is positioned radially out further than other direct drivegenerators to create higher generator speeds. The larger circumferentialspeeds at the larger radius are then almost doubled from counterrotational turbine operation. The fallback tower allows all this extrapower, at the higher wind gusts, to be more safely available. Forcedcooling, from the impeller, also makes it safer to withstand thesehigher currents without meltdown. Extracting extra power, near cutoffwind speeds, can help slow any runaway rotations by bringing on more andmore electrolysis cells accordingly.

Additional benefits of the disclosed direct drive wind turbine include:

Placing the wind turbine's blades directly to the diffuser cuff, near aquarter of the way out to the blade's tip radius, drastically reducesthe root bending loads. Those loads do not overburden the innerstructure but are offloaded directly behind to the aft support structureand down to ground. The forward part of the diffuser cuff includes themagnets of the generator and the bucket blades for the first rotorsection of the counter rotating turbine. Therefore, this Direct Drivewind turbine has the shortest possible structural load path that is evenpossible. Those main turbine blade's loads and moments go directly fromthe driving blade sections that create the most torque into the drivengenerator.

The turbine blades on the fallback tower reacts immediately to absorbany high gusts that impact the topside structures. Those sharp gustloads bypass most all of those thrust loads thru an air shock cylinderdirectly to a trailing bogey and ground.

The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have been describedin relation to systems and methods involving a direct drive windturbine. However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presentdisclosure, the preceding description omits a number of known structuresand devices, and other application and embodiments. This omission is notto be construed as a limitation of the scopes of the claims. Specificdetails are set forth to provide an understanding of the presentdisclosure. It should however be appreciated that the present disclosuremay be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific detail setforth herein.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that some of the various linksconnecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or anycombination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s)that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from theconnected elements. These wired or wireless links can also be securelinks and may be capable of communicating encrypted information.Transmission media used as links, for example, can be any suitablecarrier for electrical signals, including coaxial cables, copper wireand fiber optics, and may take the form of acoustic or light waves, suchas those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Also, while the methods have been discussed and illustrated in relationto a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated thatchanges, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occur withoutmaterially affecting the operation of the disclosed embodiments,configuration, and aspects.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used.It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosurewithout providing others.

Although the present disclosure describes components and functionsimplemented in the aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations withreference to particular standards and protocols, the aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations are not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentdisclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein, andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure, in various aspects, embodiments, and/orconfigurations, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/orapparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, includingvarious aspects, embodiments, configurations embodiments,sub-combinations, and/or subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art willunderstand how to make and use the disclosed aspects, embodiments,and/or configurations after understanding the present disclosure. Thepresent disclosure, in various aspects, embodiments, and/orconfigurations, includes providing devices and processes in the absenceof items not depicted and/or described herein or in various aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations hereof, including in the absence ofsuch items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g.,for improving performance, achieving ease and\or reducing cost ofimplementation.

The foregoing discussion has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the disclosureto the form or forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing DetailedDescription for example, various features of the disclosure are groupedtogether in one or more aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations forthe purpose of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations of the disclosure may be combined inalternate aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations other than thosediscussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claims require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a singleforegoing disclosed aspect, embodiment, and/or configuration. Thus, thefollowing claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodimentof the disclosure.

Moreover, though the description has included description of one or moreaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations and certain variations andmodifications, other variations, combinations, and modifications arewithin the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as may be within the skill andknowledge of those in the art, after understanding the presentdisclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternativeaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations to the extent permitted,including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures,functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not suchalternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of generating electrical power from awind turbine comprising: providing a wind turbine comprising: a windturbine body comprising: a center body; a nose inlet; a wind turbineshaft defining a longitudinal axis of the wind turbine body; a statorassembly comprising a set of stator blades; a diffuser augmenter cuffassembly comprising: a first rotor blade assembly rotating about thelongitudinal axis in a first axial direction and comprising a set ofmagnets and a set of first rotor blades; a second rotor blade assemblyrotating about the longitudinal axis in a second axial directionopposite the first axial direction and comprising a set of second rotorblades; and a set of main turbine blades connected to the first rotorblade assembly; receiving airflows comprising: a first airflow into thenose inlet; and a second airflow into the diffuser augmenter cuffassembly; rotating the first rotor blade assembly about the longitudinalaxis; and rotating the set of magnets to generate electricity.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the set of magnets comprise a set of outermagnets and a set of inner magnets, the set of magnets disposed aboutthe longitudinal axis.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingarmature coils positioned between the set of outer magnets and the setof inner magnets.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the rotation of theset of outer magnets and the set of inner magnets opposite to therotation of the armature coils generates electricity.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the wind turbine body further comprises a set of shortturbine blades, and the receiving airflows step further comprises afourth airflow: i) operating on the set of short turbine blades tocreate a short turbine blade torque about the wind turbine shaft and torotate the first rotor blade assembly about the longitudinal axis, andii) operating on the set of main turbine blades to create a main turbineblade torque about the wind turbine shaft and to rotate the first rotorblade assembly about the longitudinal axis.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising steps of: i) routing the second airflow within thediffuser augmented cuff assembly to form a channeled second airflow, andii) routing the channeled second airflow to the first rotor bladeassembly to urge rotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the firstaxial direction and to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assemblyabout the second axial direction.
 7. A wind turbine system comprising: awind turbine body comprising: a center body; a nose inlet; a windturbine shaft defining a longitudinal axis of the wind turbine body; astator assembly comprising a set of stator blades; a diffuser augmentercuff assembly comprising: a first rotor blade assembly configured torotate about the longitudinal axis in a first axial direction andcomprising a set of magnets and a set of first rotor blades; a secondrotor blade assembly configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis ina second axial direction opposite the first axial direction andcomprising a set of second rotor blades; and a set of main turbineblades attached to the first rotor blade assembly; wherein: a firstairflow is received by the nose inlet; a second airflow is received bythe diffuser augmenter cuff assembly; the first rotor blade assembly isrotated about the longitudinal axis; and the set of magnets are rotatedto generate electricity.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the set ofmagnets comprise a set of outer magnets and a set of inner magnets, theset of magnets disposed about the longitudinal axis.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, further comprising armature coils positioned between the set ofouter magnets and the set of inner magnets, wherein the rotation of theset of outer magnets and the set of inner magnets opposite to therotation of the armature coils generates electricity.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, the wind turbine body further comprising an impeller assemblyreceiving at least some of the first airflow to provide cooling to atleast one of the set of outer magnets, the set of inner magnets, and thearmature coils.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the impellerassembly outputs a received airflow in a radially outward direction. 12.The system of claim 8, further comprising an outer barrel stave coupledto the set of outer magnets, and an inner barrel stave coupled to theset of inner magnets.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein each of theset of main turbine blades are attached to the outer barrel stave. 14.The system of claim 7, the wind turbine body further comprises a set ofshort turbine blades, wherein a third airflow is received that: i)operates on the set of short turbine blades to create a short turbineblade torque about the wind turbine shaft and to rotate the first rotorblade assembly about the longitudinal axis, and ii) operates on the setof main turbine blades to create a main turbine blade torque about thewind turbine shaft and to rotate the first rotor blade assembly aboutthe longitudinal axis.
 15. The system of claim 7, wherein the secondairflow is channeled to form a channeled second airflow, the channeledsecond airflow routed: i) to engage the first rotor blade assembly, ii)to urge rotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the first axialdirection, and iii) to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assemblyabout the second axial direction.
 16. The system of claim 7, furthercomprising a support tower affixed to the Earth and attached to the windturbine body.
 17. The system of claim 7, further comprising a supporttower attached to the stator assembly and to the second rotor bladeassembly.
 18. The system of claim 7 wherein: each of the stator bladescomprise a stator blade trailing flap, and each of the first rotorblades comprise a first rotor blade trailing flap.
 19. A wind turbinegenerating electricity, comprising: a wind turbine body comprising: acenter body; a nose inlet; a wind turbine shaft defining a longitudinalaxis of the wind turbine body; a stator assembly comprising a set ofstator blades; a diffuser augmenter cuff assembly comprising: a firstrotor blade assembly configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis ina first axial direction and comprising an outer barrel stave coupled toa set of outer magnets, an inner barrel stave coupled to a set of innermagnets, and a set of first rotor blades; a second rotor blade assemblyconfigured to rotate about the longitudinal axis in a second axialdirection opposite the first axial direction and comprising armaturecoils positioned between the set of outer magnets and the set of innermagnets, and a set of second rotor blades; an impeller assemblyproviding cooling to the set of outer magnets, the set of inner magnets,and the armature coils; and a set of main turbine blades attached to theouter barrel stave; wherein: a first airflow is received by the noseinlet, at least some of the first airflow routed into the impellerassembly; a second airflow is received by the diffuser augmenter cuffassembly and channeled to form a channeled second airflow, the channeledsecond airflow routed to engage the first rotor blade assembly, to urgerotation of the first rotor blade assembly in the first axial direction,and to urge rotation of the second rotor blade assembly about the secondaxial direction; the first rotor blade assembly is rotated about thelongitudinal axis; and rotation of the set of outer magnets and the setof inner magnets opposite to the rotation of the armature coilsgenerates electricity.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the diffuseraugmented cuff assembly attaches to the set of main turbine blades at adistance between 20%-30% of the length of a particular main turbineblade operating radius.